'Erasers are an instrument of the devil', claims top professor

 
Professor Claxton claimed erasers are an instrument of the devil (Picture: Rex)
imageBROKER/REX
Alexandra Rucki27 May 2015

A university professor has claimed erasers are an ‘instrument of the devil’ and should be removed from school classrooms.

Cognitive scientist Guy Claxton, a visiting professor at King's College, London said rubbers make children feel ashamed about their mistakes

The academic said schools should not make youngsters feel afraid of making errors, but to recognise and learn from them.

Professor Claxton told the Daily Telegraph: “The eraser is an instrument of the devil because it perpetuates a culture of shame and error.

“It’s a way of lying to the world, which says ‘I didn’t make a mistake. I got it right first time’.

“That’s what happens who you can rub it out and replace it.

“Instead we need a culture where children are not afraid to make mistakes, they look at their mistakes and they learn from them, where they are continuously reflecting and improving on what they’ve done, not being enthralled to getting the right answer quickly and looking smart.”

He advised teachers to “ban” the eraser and to “get a big road sign with an eraser and put a big, red bar across it and get kids to say you don’t scrub out your mistakes, highlight them, because mistakes are your friends they are your teachers.”

Professor Claxton added: “Out in the big wide world nobody is going to be following you around, marking your work, organising your time for you, in the 21 century you are going to be the designer, the architect, the curator of your own learning.”

He referred to research by author Paul Tough who suggested resilience and curiosity help children do better with exams and in life in the book How Children Succeed.

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